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Jane Eyre 2011: Week 2 - Volume the First: Part 2 - Chapters VI-XI
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May 22, 2011 09:56AM
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Yes, Lily and I have been commenting in the previous thread on the cold and malnutrition which existed at Lowood, where I also wrote about Yorkshire winters and the cold houses which I experienced as a child. I must apologise if I posted any 'spoilers' in the previous section, when I was writing about the garden and the cold - I had forgotten we were not yet at Lowood!This is a photo of the School for Clergyman's daughters, on which Lowood was based, taken in 1926:-
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MrEJAK8BzEs...
And the plaque commemmorating the attendance of the Eyre sisters there:-
http://blog.mazoo.net/archives/cowan-...
This is the nearby church the girls attended (the spire was added later). The churchyard holds the graves of a number of Clergy School pupils who died of 'fever' a short time after Charlotte Brontë left school:-
http://www.ministry-of-information.co...
(Cowan Bridge is in Cumbria, the English county to the north-west of Yorkshire, about 50 miles from Haworth)
Lest anyone think that the conditions at Lowood were exaggerated, this is from Wikipedia:-'In a letter to her publisher W.S. Williams, Charlotte describes overhearing an elderly clergyman talk about reading Jane Eyre and saying "Why, they have got Cowan Bridge School [for Clergyman's Daughters], and Mr. Wilson here, I declare! and Miss Evans." She says, "He had known them all. I wondered whether he would recognise the portraits, and was gratified to find that he did, and that, moreover, he pronounced them faithful and just. He said, too, that Mr. Wilson 'deserved the chastisement he had got.'" [Brocklehurst was Mr Wilson.)....The Clergy Daughters' School still exists. It was moved to Casterton shortly after the scandal. In 1840 another typhus epidemic struck 70 of the students, claiming the lives of three. By 1857 Dorothea Beale was teaching there. It was apparent to her that while some of the physical circumstances had improved since Charlotte's time, the spiritual aspects had not changed. When the Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell came out, Beale began to write her own unfavorable impressions of the religious education handed out there.'
Mrs Gaskell writes of eye witness reports about the cook and the cooking at Lowood:-
'The beef, that should have been carefully salted before it was dressed, had often become tainted from neglect; and girls, who were schoolfellows with the Brontes, during the reign of the cook of whom I am speaking, tell me that the house seemed to be pervaded, morning, noon, and night, by the odour of rancid fat that steamed out of the oven in which much of their food was prepared. There was the same carelessness in making the puddings; one of those ordered was rice boiled in water, and eaten with a sauce of treacle and sugar; but it was often uneatable, because the water had been taken out of the rain-tub, and was strongly impregnated with the dust lodging on the roof, whence it had trickled down into the old wooden cask, which also added its own flavour to that of the original rain water.' [The cook was later dismissed.]
We get the first reference to Phrenology in Chapter 5, when Jane says: 'I suppose I have a considerable organ of veneration, for I retain yet the sense of admiring awe with which my eyes traced her steps. Seen now, in broad daylight, she looked tall, fair, and shapely; brown eyes with a benignant light in their irids, and a fine pencilling of long lashes round, relieved the whiteness of her >large front.'Post 17 of my background information thread mentions the pseudo-science of Phrenology, which was something in which the Victorians believed and which CB uses quite a lot in Jane Eyre. There are some diagrams there which show you what the different brain 'organs' signified.
MadgeUK wrote: "...I suppose I have a considerable organ of veneration, for I retain yet the sense of admiring awe with which my eyes traced her steps...."I rather smiled when I read this passage because I wondered if CB realized at the time she wrote it of the irony/sarcasm that Jane's "considerable organ of veneration" most definitely did not extend to Mrs. Reed or Mr. Brocklehurst, regardless of the entreaties of the likes of even Bessie or Mr. Lloyd.
(Chapter 5 was in our first week's reading, even if Chris did later indicate he might have placed it differently in hindsight. There may have been a few other slips into this next section last week, but certainly this chapter 5 can be considered to bridge the two weeks.)
Mod
So, to whom do our thoughts liken Mr. Brocklehurst in today's world, if not by name, at least by officious position? He is, for me, a character for which it takes considerable effort to extend empathy, although I do recognize it is possible to do so, if one attempts to walk in his shoes. That still doesn't excuse many of his actions nor his words, whether by the morals of his day or ours.Can we even vaguely understand today the conditions or social milieu out of which such arose? Where do we see similar conditions today in the "first world"? (We can still certainly find them in the third world nations, but we still could probably name analogous ones among the poor and disadvantaged even in our wealthiest nations -- such as scandals in nursing home care or treatment of children in some slum schools.)
What does the story say about the ability of underlings to stand up to authority? Certainly sidestepping or circumventing or biding time until the evidence can be collected are all techniques we observe.
So, to whom do our thoughts liken Mr. Brocklehurst in today's world, if not by name, at least by officious position?But in the book what does Mr Brocklehurst represent to Jane and to other pupils at Lowood and how do the religious ideas taught at the school influence life there? Are the religious principles he is teaching good ones and is Helen's exemplification of turning the other cheek, as she exhort's Jane to do, a good way to deal with the difficulties Jane and the other girls face? Or will Jane's more passionate, rebellious nature be a better way forward for her, and perhaps for Victorian women in general? What is CB trying to impart here?
Helen has survived the hostile, frigid? world of Lowood by going inside herself, by daydreaming but this is not enough and she is burned up inside by fever. Jane too repressed has repressed her passion but do we now see signs that she is about to rebel against Helen's spiritual approach to life when she cries out:
No; I know I should think well of myself; but that is not enough: if others don't love me, I would rather die than live--I cannot bear to be solitary and hated, Helen. Look here; to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest.'
I rather smiled when I read this passage because I wondered if CB realized at the time she wrote it of the irony/sarcasm that Jane's "considerable organ of veneration" most definitely did not extend to Mrs. Reed or Mr. Brocklehurst, regardless of the entreaties of the likes of even Bessie or Mr. Lloyd.I think this is part of the bildungsroman. Jane was a (pre-menstrual?) child before she got to Lowood and her 'organ of veneration' was not yet developed. Now she is able to make more mature judgements about people. We see her entering a different phase of her life. So this observation about herself may be an awakening for Jane, an Epiphany perhaps?
According to phrenological thought 'The function of the [organ of veneration] is to produce the sentiment of Veneration in general ; or an emotion of profound and reverential respect, on perceiving an object at once great and good. It is the source of natural religion, and of that tendency to worship a superior power, which manifests itself in almost every tribe of men yet discovered. The faculty, however, produces merely an emotion, and does not form ideas of the object to which adoration should be directed ; and hence, if no revelation have reached the individual, and if the understanding be extremely limited, the unfortunate being may worship the genius of the storm ; the sun, as the source of light, heat, and vegetable life ; or, if more debased in intellect, brutes, and stocks, and stones....The organ is generally larger in the female head than in the male ; and women are more obedient and prone to devotion than men.' (A large forehead, such as Miss Temple had, can mean that the person is prone to superstition.)
MadgeUK wrote: "Now she is able to make more mature judgements about people...."I believe this is set just a day or so after Jane arrives at Lowood, although if I remember my search on the phrase "organ of veneration", it reappears in Chapter 8.
Lily wrote: "So, to whom do our thoughts liken Mr. Brocklehurst in today's world, if not by name, at least by officious position? He is, for me, a character for which it takes considerable effort to extend emp..."I'm not sure in which biography I've seen this, may be it's the Barker's biography but Charlotte had actually based Mr. Brocklehurst on a real character. I remember seeing sketches of Charlotte of her character and and portrayal of the real person in a side-by-side comparison in one of these books. If only I can remember the name.
Madge, that's for those links, I've seen them before but it's nice you share them with other members. Most of Jane's experience I think, is based on Charlotte's own experience and highly reminiscent of an autobiography. I think Helen Burns is also a portrayal of her elder sister Maria who died of TB.
Amalie wrote: "I'm not sure in which biography I've seen this, may be it's the Barker's biography but Charlotte had actually Mr. Brocklehurst on a real character. ..."Mr. Wilson, see Madge's message 3 above.
Oh I missed that. Thanks Lily.
Mod
According to a letter that Charlotte wrote her editor, upon the publication of "Jane Eyre," she saw an elderly clergyman reading the novel and heard him exclaim--
"'Why they've got _____ School, and Mr _____ here, I declare! and Miss ____' (naming the originals of Lowood, Mr Brocklehurst and Miss Temple) and he said too that Mr _____ (Brocklehurst) 'deserved all the chastisement he had got.'"Barker points out that Elizabeth Gaskell also left no doubt about the identity of the school and named names "...and laid the blame for Charlotte's future ill health and the death of her sisters squarely on the institution and its founder."
Barker also found this interesting bit--
"Yet another Cowan Bridge girl of the Bronte period sent a horrific account to substantiate the accusations, pointing out that 'on first reading "Jane Eyre" several years ago I recognized immediately the picture there drawn and was far from considering it in any way exaggerated, in fact I thought at the time, and still think, the matter rather understated than otherwise'. She then went on to say--Pretty horrifying stuff. This entire chapter about the Bronte girls' experiences at the "Clergy Daughters' School" frankly scared the hell out of me! It really made me think about the grim conditions described by Dickens at "Dotheboys Hall" in Nicholas Nickleby.
'The housekeeper was very dirty with the cooking and very unkind to the girls generally. I have frequently seen grease swim[m]ing on the milk and water we had for breakfast, in consequence of its having been boiled in a greasy copper and I perfectly remember having once been sent for a cup of tea for a teacher who was ill in bed, and no teaspoon being at hand the housekeeper stirred the tea with her finger she being engaged in cutting raw meat at the time. If space would allow I could give you scores of such instances as these as these which fell under my own observation and which after nearly twenty five years have elapsed dwell unpleasantly in my memory. Our food was almost always badly cooked, and besides that we certainly had not enough of it whatever may be said to the contrary.'"
So, as one reads these chapters about little Jane and Helen at Lowood, I suggest that we think about the old adage--"where there's smoke, there's fire".
"message 8: Helen has survived the hostile, frigid? world of Lowood by going inside herself, by daydreaming but this is not enough and she is burned up inside by fever."I don't think that Helen is "daydreaming & going inside of herself." I believe that she has a strong relationship with God. Despite her all the terrible things in Helen's life, she remains optimistic because she knows that (1) she is not alone, and that (2) there is more for us than this physical world.
Throughout Jane's early life she has longed to be loved but has never received it and instead has been treated horribly as an outsider. Jane has learned to rely ONLY on herself. Helen's forgiving behavior is confusing to Jane. It is foreign to her, but immediately it influences her behavior later that day when she tells Miss Temple about her life at Gateshead --
"I resolved, in the depth of my heart, that I would be most moderate- -most correct; and, having reflected a few minutes in order to arrange coherently what I had to say, I told her all the story of my sad childhood. Exhausted by emotion, my language was more subdued than it generally was when it developed that sad theme; and mindful of Helen's warnings against the indulgence of resentment, I infused into the narrative far less of gall and wormwood than ordinary. Thus restrained and simplified, it sounded more credible: I felt as I went on that Miss Temple fully believed me."
And now Jane, who is loved by both Helen and Miss Temple, can begin to let go of all that hurt and move forward in her life. (IMO)
Lily wrote: "MadgeUK wrote: "Now she is able to make more mature judgements about people...."I believe this is set just a day or so after Jane arrives at Lowood, although if I remember my search on the phrase..."
Yes, but in terms of the construction of the novel I think her time in the Red Room, the fainting fit and her being sent to Lowood alone was marking another phase of her life, a phase where her judgements could become more mature. She also comes into contact with another set of people whose values are different to those of the Reeds, more spiritual and less materialistic perhaps.
Jane's conflict with Mr Brocklehurst was foreshadowed in Volume 1 and we see that he does not live up to his Evangelical principles, he is a hypocrite. This may also be CB's criticism, as the daughter of a Church of England clergyman, on the Evangelical movement which was sweeping England at that time, although her mother and her Aunt Branwell came from an evangelical Methodist family. Gaskell's biography records that in one of her letters Charlotte wrote that her mother's possessions included 'some mad Methodist Magazines full of miracles and apparitions, and preternatural warnings, ominous dreams, and frenzied fanaticism; and the equally mad Letters of Mrs Elizabeth Rowe from the Dead to the Living.' Charlotte also records a time when the dissenting Methodists and Baptists refused to pay the Church of England tithes in Haworth, which considerably upset her father who later preached a fiery sermon on Dissent. Charlotte's opinion of the Dissenters was that: 'I consider them bigoted, intolerant, and wholly unjustifiable on the ground of common sense. My conscience will not let me be either a Puseyite or a Hookist; but, if I were a Dissenter, I would have taken the first opportunity of kicking, or of horse-whipping both the gentlemen for their stern, bitter attack on my religion and its teachers.' So we might see her criticism of Mr Brocklehurst (and therefore Mr Wilson, the Superintendent of Cowan Bridge) as being based on her own religious convictions, although a number of biographers have commented that CB was broadminded in religious matters.
Brocklehurst's inconsistency is also shown by his attack on Julia's curly hair as compared with the appearance of his fashionably dressed wife - one law for his family but another for the girls at Lowood: 'I have a Master to serve whose kingdom is not of this world: my mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh; to teach them to clothe themselves with shame-facedness and sobriety, not with braided hair and costly apparel.' When he insists that the girls neither 'conform to the world' nor 'to nature', we see the impossibility and hypocrisy of his teaching.
Those interested in the religious views of the Bronte family and their relevance to their novels may find this online book of interest:-
http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/...
Christopher wrote: So, as one reads these chapters about little Jane and Helen at Lowood, I suggest that we think about the old adage--"where there's smoke, there's fire". Yes, as we read these biographical comments (including mine at post 3), we can reflect upon the earlier questions about the reliable/unreliable Narrator because we now know that the novel contains accounts of the school which were verified by others who attended it.
Do the biographers talk about why the Bronte sisters were sent to such conditions, despite the reputation of the school?
It was cheap, easily accessible from Haworth and Carus Wilson was a wealthy, philanthropic clergyman with a good reputation. Mrs Gaskell writes: the '...expenses had not been increased since the establishment of the school in 1823...Mr. Wilson being not only a trustee, but the treasurer and secretary; in fact, taking most of the business arrangements upon himself; a responsibility which appropriately fell to him, as he lived nearer the school than any one else who was interested in it. So his character for prudence and judgment was to a certain degree implicated in the success or failure of Cowan Bridge School; and the working of it was for many years the great object and interest of his life. But he was apparently unacquainted with the prime element in good administration--seeking out thoroughly competent persons to fill each department, and then making them responsible for, and judging them by, the result, without perpetual and injudicious interference with the details....There was much need of such an institution; numbers of ill-paid clergymen hailed the prospect with joy, and eagerly put down the names of their children as pupils when the establishment should be ready to receive them.''The payment made by the parents was barely enough for food and lodging; the subscriptions did not flow very freely into an untried scheme; and great economy was necessary in all the domestic arrangements. He determined to enforce this by frequent personal inspection; and his love of authority seems to have led to a great deal of unnecessary and irritating meddling with little matters. Yet, although there was economy in providing for the household, there does not appear to have been any parsimony. The meat, flour, milk, etc., were contracted for, but were of very fair quality; and the dietary, which has been shown to me m manuscript, was neither bad not unwholesome; nor, on the whole, was it wanting in variety. Oatmeal porridge for breakfast; a piece of oat-cake for those who required luncheon; baked and boiled beef, and mutton, potato-pie, and plain homely puddings of different kinds for dinner. At five o'clock, bread and milk for the younger ones; and one piece of bread (this was the only time at which the food was limited) for the elder pupils, who sat up till a later meal of the same description. Mr. Wilson himself ordered in the food, and was anxious that it should be of good quality. But the cook, who had much of his confidence, and against whom for a long time no one durst utter a complaint, was careless, dirty, and wasteful.'
The food was therefore very unwholesome and often inedible: 'Many a meal the little Brontes went without food, although craving with hunger. They were not strong when they came, having only just recovered from a complication of measles and hooping-cough'.
'It appears strange that Mr. Wilson should not have been informed by the teachers of the way in which the food was served up; but we must remember that the cook had been known for some time to the Wilson family, while the teachers were brought together for an entirely different work--that of education. They were expressly given to understand that such was their department; the buying in and management of the provisions rested with Mr. Wilson and the cook. The teachers would, of course, be unwilling to lay any complaints on the subject before him; and when he heard of them, his reply was to the effect that the children were to be trained up to regard higher things than dainty pampering of the appetite, and (apparently unconscious of the fact, that daily loathing and rejection of food is sure to undermine the health) he lectured them on the sin of caring over-much for carnal things.'
(Extracts from Chapter 4 The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Mrs Gaskell.)
Mod
As I said above, reading this chapter in Barker's biography, as well as CB's fictional account of Jane at Lowood just broke my heart. As the father of two daughters, I simply can't imagine subjecting one's own little girls to this horror knowingly; and I simply can't believe that Patrick did this knowing that the school was so utterly deficient.
I guess no-one spoke about it because Wilson had a good reputation and was wealthy and influential. As Gaskell says, the teachers were unwilling to make complaints, perhaps fearful for their jobs, and Wilson perhaps persuaded other clergymen, like Patrick Bronte, that 'higher things', and the after-life, were more important than childrens' appetites or creature comforts. Things only began to improve after the cook was dismissed and after the second outbreak of typhus, when Wilson had retired. Also, the deaths of several children during both outbreaks of typhus received unfavourable publicity which caused the schools to be inspected. Gaskell writes:'I only wonder that [Charlotte] did not remonstrate against her father's decision to send her and Emily back to Cowan Bridge, after Maria's and Elizabeth's deaths. But frequently children are unconscious of the effect which some of their simple revelations would have in altering the opinions entertained by their friends of the persons placed around them. Besides, Charlotte's earnest vigorous mind saw, at an unusually early age, the immense importance of education, as furnishing her with tools which she had the strength and the will to wield, and she would be aware that the Cowan Bridge education was, in many points, the best that her father could provide for her.'
Would a Victorian parent take notice of young childrens' complaints about their school or schooling at a time when children were 'to be seen and not heard'? Mr Bronte 'had not previously been aware of [Maria's] illness, and the condition in which he found her was a terrible shock to him.' Maria died at home a few days later and shortly afterwards Elizabeth too was sent home in a similar condition and she too died of TB later that year. Charlotte was then brought home, at the age of nine, to help look after her remaining sisters, although, fortunately, Mr Bronte then engaged an elderly Yorkshirewoman from the village to look after the house and children, Tabby, who proved to be an immense comfort to them all.
At the beginning of the novel Jane expresses a dislike for walking in the cold. The description below, given by Gaskell, of the walk to Cowan Bridge church might have been what CB was drawing upon:'There was another trial of health common to all the girls. The path from Cowan Bridge to Tunstall Church, where Mr. Wilson preached, and where they all attended on the Sunday, is more than two miles in length, and goes sweeping along the rise and fall of the unsheltered country, in a way to make it a fresh and exhilarating walk in summer, but a bitter cold one in winter, especially to children whose thin blood flowed languidly in consequence of their half-starved condition. The church was not warmed, there being no means for this purpose. It stands in the midst of fields, and the damp mists must have gathered round the walls, and crept in at the windows. The girls took their cold dinner with them, and ate it between the services, in a chamber over the entrance, opening out of the former galleries. The arrangements....were peculiarly trying to delicate children, particularly to those who were spiritless, and longing for home, as poor Maria Bronte must have been.'
Mrs Reed might also have been drawn from CB's Aunt Branwell who was, reportedly a 'severe' Evangelical with similar views to Mr Brocklehurst: 'The [Bronte] children respected her, but I do not think they ever freely loved her'.
Christopher wrote: "Chapter Five of Juliet Barker's biography, The Brontës, is entitled "Charity Children" and describes Patrick sending Maria (10 years old) and Elizabeth (9 years old) to the "Clergy Da..."It can be interesting to try to see where events, characters, locations, and the like in novels come from (all of them come from somewhere -- people e can only write about things that have at some point entered into thjeir consciousness), but of course it requires going outside of the text.
Wouldn't Patrick Bronte have been decently educated himself since he was a clergyman? I would think after the death of two of his daughters, he would have thought to undertake the remaining girls' education himself.
Mod
Christopher wrote: "Excellent question, Kristen. Yes, Patrick was well-educated (Oxford), and he did spend time with the children when he had time. At the same time though, he was a very dedicated pastor to his pari..."400+ funerals! my goodness. i do have to say that all this background info makes me thankful to live in a world of antibiotics and women's rights.
Mod
Truly I do agree with you. Life was certainly much more harsh and fragile in those times. Look at tuberculosis, for example, today it can largely be treated with a course of strong antibiotics; but in Charlotte's time it seems to have been inevitably fatal.
Christopher wrote: "Look at tuberculosis, for example, today it can largely be treated with a course of strong antibiotics; but in Charlotte's time it seems to have been inevitably fatal..."Even in Henry James's Portrait of a Lady well-cared-for Ralph Touchett succumbs to tuberculous. (1881 -- still well before antibiotics.)
One of my uncles died of the disease, before I was born. Probably the late 1930's, very early 1940's. He was likely in his thirties or even younger.
We were talking Saturday about some very virulent and treatment resistant varieties that exist today, sometimes associated with immune-deficiency conditions. Diseases are one of the places where evolution works against man; microbes can mutate and evolve so rapidly that keeping pace with antibiotics is the on-going challenge that it is.
Lily wrote: "Diseases are one of the places where evolution works against man; microbes can mutate and evolve so rapidly that keeping pace with antibiotics is the on-going challenge that it is."
They are, after all, living things which have as much right to try to live as we do, don't they?
Mod
Ain't that the truth, Everyman, ain't that the truth. Sometimes it can be hard to wrap your brain around the notion that viruses like Ebola, or parasites like ticks actually serve an important purpose, but they really do when one looks at the macrocosm that is our planet.
Helen’s life (and death) was so sad. She had been loved. Her father taught her Latin before Lowood. But unlike CB in real life, Helen is left to linger and die on her own. “I leave no one to regret me much: I have only a father; and he is lately married, and will not miss me.” These are such sad thoughts for a child. And her clergy father doesn’t even collect her body—“Her grave is in Brocklebridge churchyard: for fifteen years after her death it was only covered by a grassy mound: but now a grey marble table marks the spot inscribed with her name, and a word ‘Resurgarm.’” ( ‘Resurgarm’, I just looked it up, is Latin for “I shall rise again.” )
Mod
It just breaks your heart doesn't it? As a father, I just can't imagine anything like that at all...
And one has to conclude from that passage, at least I did, that it was Jane that adorned her friend's grave with the stone inscribed "Resurgam". Incredibly poignant moment in the story.
I also thought it was ever so powerful that little Jane was cuddled up with Helen when she died--at least the two of them were together in love and friendship at that moment.
The passage with Jane and and Helen brought to my mind the scene in Little Women when Beth died. As a mom and grandma, these things just bring out the empathy and the tissue box.
Mod
So true, Judy, so true! One thing I'll give all three of the Bronte sisters in their fiction, is their ability to completely connect with their reader. I felt--really felt--the love between Helen and Jane in her narrative, and it just crushed me when little Helen passed away. All I can say is, 'Thank god that Jane had gone off and found her that night.' I just think it was so important that someone who loved Helen was with her that night as she passed away.
I've always loved Helen, but I also find her impossibly perfect. Really? She was THAT flawlessly self-sacrificing AND that brilliant?Her flaws don't really seem to exist outside of her own recitation of them, and they certainly don't diminish the otherworldly glow that Bronte bathes her in, but they tickle me (and make me love her in spite of her impossibility) because they are an exact catalog of my own (well, the more minor ones- I have much worse!):
"I am, as Miss Scatcherd said, slatternly; I seldom put, and never keep, things, in order; I am careless; I forget rules; I read when I should learn my lessons; I have no method; and sometimes I say, like you, I cannot BEAR to be subjected to systematic arrangements."
Even though its sad to think about, no one should ever die alone. I have been at a couple of besides when relatives have passed away, and have felt deeply that this was the right place to be.
Judy wrote: "Even though its sad to think about, no one should ever die alone. I have been at a couple of bedsides when relatives have passed away, and have felt deeply that this was the right place to be."That's a wonderful sentiment, Judy, and a sacred place from which to live life. However, I have known of cases where a loved one has waited until all have left and then died. In some cases, I have come to believe that was a choice to be honored and that those who were not there need live on with minimal guilt and regret.
Presence at death is also a practice that is not uniform across families.
Mod
Her flaws don't really seem to exist outside of her own recit..."
Ahh, S. Rosemary, I do see what you are alluding to, but as a father and parent I'll always go with the emotion and become sucked into the 'vortex' of Helen's situation. I can't see her as too perfect, or it'd dampen my pity for her situation. I think what it indicates for me is CB's skill as an author at eliciting my empathy and sympathy for Helen's situation, and not making it feel gratuitous.
Christopher wrote: "...I can't see her as too perfect, or it'd dampen my pity for her situation...."Why? (I ask from the perspective that our feelings are always our choices. Even if she is "perfect", it seems to me that her situation is dire enough to justify sympathy. Now, a lot harder for me is choosing to find empathy (but not necessarily sympathy) within myself for the less savory characters. Sorry if I come across as obnoxious or at least irritating on this theme! lol)
I do wonder whether CB created the character of Helen so that we can compare her to the much more flawed (if being spirited and outspoken is flawed which it probably was in Victorian times) Jane. She is also set up as someone whom Jane admires and wants to emulate but knows that she never can "I was no Helen Burns". It's all part of Jane's journey to self-knowledge. As I mentioned earlier, Helen is the embodiment of Christian virtue and renunciation in the text and, indeed, she is a Christ-like figure herself. Of course we pity her - but we pity Christ too for sacrificing himself for us - and Jane learns from Helen in much the same way as the bible desires us to learn from Christ. CB's language affirms this notion with Helen's epitaph "Resurgam" (I will rise again) and Miss "Temple" who mothers the two girls. There is interesting mirroring of Helen's character later in the novel.
Rosemary wrote: Her flaws don't really seem to exist outside of her own recitation of them, and they certainly don't diminish the otherworldly glow that Bronte bathes her in As Helen is based on Maria, CBs young sister who was ill in the same way as Helen but who died shortly after being taken away from Lowood, this perhaps isn't surprising. Gaskell writes this dreadful account:
'I need hardly say, that Helena Burns is as exact a transcript of Maria Bronte as Charlotte's wonderful power of reproducing character could give. Her heart, to the latest day on which we met, still beat with unavailing indignation at the worrying and the cruelty to which her gentle, patient, dying sister had been subjected by this woman. Not a word of that part of Jane Eyre but is a literal repetition of scenes. between the pupil and the teacher. Those who had been pupils at the same time knew who must have written the book, from the force with which Helena Bums' sufferings are described....
...One of these fellow-pupils of Charlotte and Maria Bronte's, among other statements even worse, gives me the following:--The dormitory in which Maria slept was a long room, holding a row of narrow little beds on each side, occupied by the pupils; and at the end of this dormitory there was a small bed-chamber opening out of it, appropriated to the use of Miss Scatcherd. Maria's bed stood nearest to the door of this room. One morning, after she had become so seriously unwell as to have had a blister applied to her side (the sore from which was not perfectly healed), when the getting-up bell was heard, poor Maria moaned out that she was so ill, so very ill, she wished she might stop in bed; and some of the girls urged her to do so, and said they would explain it all to Miss Temple, the superintendent. But Miss Scatcherd was close at hand, and her anger would have to be faced before Miss Temple's kind thoughtfulness could interfere; so the sick child began to dress, shivering with cold, as, without leaving her bed, she slowly put on her black worsted stockings over her thin white legs (my informant spoke as if she saw it yet, and her whole face flashed out undying indignation). Just then Miss Scatcherd issued from her room, and, without asking for a word of explanation from the sick and frightened girl, she took her by the arm, on the side to which the blister had been applied, and by one vigorous movement whirled her out into the middle of the floor, abusing her all the time for dirty and untidy habits. There she left her. My informant says, Maria hardly spoke, except to beg some of the more indignant girls to be calm; but, in slow, trembling movements, with many a pause, she went down stairs at last--and was punished for being late.'
We can see from this account that the text of JE is accurate in depicting the many cruelties imposed on Helen Burns by Miss Scatcherd, in keeping with the autobiographical nature of the novel. For me Gaskell's biography helps to test the reliability of CB's/Jane's narration and makes the novel even more poignant.
Lily wrote: 'Why? I ask from the perspective that our feelings are always our choices.Are feelings always our choices? Surely many of them come unbidden from the depths of our subconscious? Our responses to some things can be triggered by childhood memories; for instance, I am very frightened of dogs because I was knocked backwards into a fire by one when very young. If a large dog comes up to me it triggers this memory so I become very afraid and physically sick, I can even faint - there is no 'choice' involved. There are a number of bad memories which I have which can be triggered and which can make me relive the original experience. I suspect that many people have unbidden memories like this, over which they do not exercise any choice.
Now, a lot harder for me is choosing to find empathy (but not necessarily sympathy) within myself for the less savory characters. Sorry if I come across as obnoxious or at least irritating on this theme!
Not at all obnoxious or irritating Lily but puzzling:). Why do you find it necessary to have empathy with characters which the author has deliberately drawn as 'less savory' in order to tell a story? Is it always necessary to have empathy, even with the vilest of characters, especially adults who are being deliberately cruel to young children? Perhaps you are trying to be like Helen Burns here, totally forgiving?
And where does that leave culpability for wrongdoing? Mr Brocklehust/Wilson's neglect of these children caused death in the novel and deaths in real life. Miss Scatcherd's cruelty to Maria/Helen caused a dying child pain, mental torment and contributed to their deaths. What benefit does empathy have in such situations, in the novel and in real life? Should we have empathy with Hitler or Bin Laden? If we ourselves are decent, nice people, can we ever enter into the thought processes and feelings of such people? Do we want to?
Georgie wrote: "I do wonder whether CB created the character of Helen so that we can compare her to the much more flawed (if being spirited and outspoken is flawed which it probably was in Victorian times) Jane. She is also set up as someone whom Jane admires and wants to emulate but knows that she never can "I was no Helen Burns"..."I think you're on to something there.
And, of course, it's the loving and gentle one who dies, and the feisty one who survives.
Bronte almost certainly knew Wordsworth. I wonder whether she is reflecting his lines in The Excursion:
Oh, Sir! the good die first,
And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust
Burn to the socket.
Rosemary wrote: "I've always loved Helen, but I also find her impossibly perfect. Really? She was THAT flawlessly self-sacrificing AND that brilliant?Her flaws don't really seem to exist outside of her own recit..."
haha! on reading this portion again i felt that i shared her flaws too. though i wouldn't have taken her punishments as well as she did!
i've always felt badly for Jane when Helen dies. what an experience to go through as a child-- having your only friend in the world die next to you in her sleep. so sad. i think it emphasizes the helplessness of Jane to change her life circumstances at this point in time.
The sexual imagery of the red room mentioned earlier is also carried over to Lowood with Brocklehurst being the instigator of sexual repression and depriver of anything sensual. The girls, all on the cusp of womanhood, are discouraged from revealing anything that is remotely sexual. This is seen with Brocklehurst's insistence that they wear the brown uniform, shave their hair and literally starve them of the pleasures of food - all training for the asexual and conformist model of womanhood that Victorians idealised (while overt sexuality in women was regarded with disgust and suspicion). Helen is the perfect candidate for this - Jane is rebellious and resists, which she does throughout the novel. Helen almost allows Jane to see that there is another way of living, even though it requires effort. It's interesting too that CB, while addressing the reader at the start of chapter 11, also refers to her "autobiography" as a novel. The book does seem to be a bit of a hybrid of the two.
Very insightful post Georgie! I wondered whether CB referring to the book being a novel in Chapter 11 was an indication that there was less autobiographical material in the later phases of Jane's life and that the narration may become less reliable?
In Chapter 8 Jane tells her story to Miss Temple and she is more forgiving towards Mrs Reed, who had lied about her character, as a result of her talks with Helen about endurance and forgiving one's enemies. Later, however, she begins to doubt the validity of Helen's example and reflects that 'in the tranquillity she imparted there was an alloy of inexpressible sadness'. After Miss Temple marries and leaves Lowood Jane feels 'as if a prop were withdrawn, but rather as if a motive were gone: it was not the power to be tranquil which had failed me, but the reason for tranquillity was no more.' She realises that the stoicism exhibited by Helen might have been suitable for Lowood with its 'rules and systems' but 'now I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils.' Yet another step in her bildungsroman. Lowood is then inspected and reformed and she spends a further seven years there before getting a position as a governess, after which we learn that 'this is not to be a regular autobiography'. In Chapter 10 she reflects on her life at Lowood, where all her time had been spent, including vacations: 'Mrs. Reed had never sent for me to Gateshead; neither she nor any of her family had ever been to visit me. I had had no communication by letter or message with the outer world' although when she visits Gateshead after leaving Lowood she finds that another lie which Mrs Reed told was that she had no relatives because Bessie tells her that seven years ago another uncle had called at Gateshead looking for her. This may be a foreshadowing of further revelations to come. (We also learn that Georgiana and John Reed now lead dissipated lives.)
Whilst reflecting on her life at Lowood Jane suddenly longs for liberty: '...for liberty I gasped; for liberty I uttered a prayer; it seemed scattered on the wind then faintly blowing. I abandoned it and framed a humbler supplication; for change, stimulus: that petition, too, seemed swept off into vague space: "Then," I cried, half desperate, "grant me at least a new servitude!" The language here is quite radical and is reminiscent of the French Revolution and the new rights for women which women like Mary Wollstonecraft had been advocating. It is telling, however, that at this stage of the novel Jane, although she longed to 'surmount' the 'remote blue peaks', is unaccustomed to liberty and therefore rejects the idea of 'Liberty, Excitement, Enjoyment'. She decides to advertise for a position as a governess, another position of servitude, albeit with 'new faces and new circumstances', although, the very act of advertising is, in fact, a rather novel idea and one which shows her determination to succeed. Miss Fairfax of Thornfield Hall responds and, after the revelationary meeting with Bessie, Jane travels towards a new life, perhaps to liberty, excitement, enjoyment...
Georgie wrote: "The sexual imagery of the red room mentioned earlier is also carried over to Lowood with Brocklehurst being the instigator of sexual repression and depriver of anything sensual. The girls, all on ..."An interesting idea. It never crossed my mind ever before.
Doesn't anyone else notice that the extremely moving part of the story (Helen's death) is described in an unemotional manner. There are no comments made regarding Jane's feelings. We are only left with the image of two girls clinging to each other for support and warmth. So why CB leaves it out? I always found it puzzling. Usually many authors will find such occasions to create a bit of sensible "melodrama."
Then the idea of death seems to have taken by these ladies in a different way, well, except may be Ann. Jane although narrates everything, express every little feeling, she sometimes keep things to her self at oddest places which reminds me of her later creation Lucy Snowe in Villette.
Bit out of topic here but I think this "keeping to herself" is one particular reason why some critics argue about Jane's reliability in narration. I don't think it's relevant to this particular event but I remember a lecturer pointing some places during college studies. I'll mention them at proper places, would love to get your remarks on that.
Georgie wrote: "The sexual imagery of the red room mentioned earlier is also carried over to Lowood with Brocklehurst being the instigator of sexual repression and depriver of anything sensual. "And yet CB has them sleep two girls to a bed. I realize that sharing beds was much commoner in Victorian times than it is today, but are we to believe that during the long nights lying there cold and lonely, huddled together for warmth and comfort, these pre-pubescent and pubescent girls would not in any way explore their sexuality? If CB were really trying to present the school as not only asexual but anti-sexual and anti-sensual, isn't this a strange choice for her to have made?
The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910
Books mentioned in this topic
Jane Eyre (other topics)Jane Eyre (other topics)
Twilight (other topics)
Jane Eyre (other topics)
The Portrait of a Lady (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Nuruddin Farah (other topics)Henry James (other topics)
